Tag Archives: forgiveness

November 10, 2025 · 7:27 am

How Trials Become Opportunities for Profound Spiritual Growth

A growth toward becoming like Christ

God’s greatest blessings often come wrapped in the paradox of divine distress—those unique circumstances that, though deeply challenging, become the very ground where agape-love is cultivated within us. These trials and tribulations are in fact opportunities of profound spiritual growth. They provide us with the inescapable chance to love our enemies, to rise above instinct and pride, and to embody a love that is not of this world but of God Himself.

The process by which agape-love is birthed within us is what the Scriptures term “SonPlacing”—the divine intention and plan that God has for every believer. This love, however, is not kindled amid laughter, comfort, or abundance. Like all births, it comes forth from travail, pain, and endurance. The apostle Paul, in his famous discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13, describes this love as enduring and patient. He writes that love “does not seek after the things which are its own, is not irritated, provoked, exasperated, aroused to anger, does not take into account the evil which it suffers” (1 Corinthians 13:5, Wuest). This passage paints a picture of love that is not reactive, but proactive—a love that transcends circumstances and personal offense.

At the heart of agape-love is forgiveness. The maturation of this divine love is triggered by the experience of being sinned against. If you desire to possess this love, the only appropriate response to hurt or injustice is forgiveness, no matter the situation or depth of the wound.

In Scripture, the words translated as “forgive” and “forgiveness” come from four distinct Greek terms, each rich with meaning. Collectively, they convey the ideas of “sending forth,” “sending away,” “bestowing favor unconditionally,” and “releasing.” Forgiveness, in this sense, is not merely letting go of a grudge or forgetting an offense. It is an absolute annulment of transgression and its consequences, akin to a debt that is not just paid but completely canceled and erased from all records.

Letting Go

This radical form of forgiveness requires that both the failure and any thoughts of retaliation are forever released, as if thrown into a supernal incinerator—never to be retrieved or remembered. Forgiveness, then, is not just about letting go of what was done to us, but also about creating a new reality, one in which the offense is as though it never occurred.

As the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” This is the heart of forgiveness: an act so complete and transformative that it rewrites the narrative of our souls.

A Liberating Experience

Forgiveness, fundamentally, is not a human invention but a divine act. It originates in the heart of God and is extended to us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we accept this sacrifice, we experience an unconditional release from the penalties our fallen, carnal nature has accrued. The apostle Paul reminds us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Yet God’s forgiveness is not merely a legal pardon—it is a personal, liberating experience that the church has long called “Salvation.” As we turn our lives toward God, our infractions are erased, and we become spiritually washed, free, and invigorated with new life and energy.

This forgiveness is, at its core, the ultimate gift of love. When we receive forgiveness from God, the seed of divine love—agape—is sown into our hearts. Jesus illustrated this truth in his parable when he asked, “Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?” Simon answered, “I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most.” To receive great forgiveness is to be moved to great love. This initial blossoming of love is what Scripture calls phileo-love—a joyful, grateful affection that springs from having received something wonderful and undeserved. It is, however, only the embryonic stage of agape-love, which is deeper, more self-giving, and unconditional.

Jesus further clarifies this process: “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” This passage reveals that the depth of our capacity for love is directly linked to our experience of forgiveness. Forgiveness received from God for the “good” in our lives produces phileo-love, an affectionate and responsive love. But the journey does not end there. To mature into agape-love, we must extend forgiveness from ourselves, especially in response to the “evil” or wrongdoing we endure from others.

To Love as God Loves

This is the critical transition point in the development of divine love within us. To love as God loves, we must move from being recipients of forgiveness to being dispensers of it. It is not enough to bask in the joy of being forgiven; we must also become agents of forgiveness. This is perhaps the greatest challenge and highest calling of the Christian life. It demands that we forgive those who have hurt us deeply, those who have betrayed or wronged us, just as God has forgiven us. In doing so, we participate in the life of God Himself, becoming channels through which His agape-love flows into the world.

Practically speaking, this transformative process often unfolds in the midst of our greatest struggles and heartaches. The “battlefields” of life—those moments of conflict, disappointment, and loss—are not merely obstacles to be overcome but are opportunities for the birth of something holy within us. When we choose to forgive, to let go of resentment and to release both the offense and the offender into God’s hands, we are shaped into the likeness of Christ.

Our capacity for agape-love expands, and we come to embody the very love that once saved us. In summary, the journey toward agape-love is a path marked by both receiving and giving forgiveness. It is a process initiated by God’s mercy and sustained by our willingness to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

Each circumstance of divine distress becomes a sacred invitation to practice this love, to transcend our natural inclinations, and to participate in the very heart of God. Ultimately, it is through forgiveness—the letting go, the creation of a new reality, and the refusal to keep score—that agape-love is born, matures, and overflows from our lives, blessing not only ourselves but all those around us. [A summary of a portion of Garrison Russell’s book SonPlacing found here: https://sonplace.com/xulon/sonplacing/sp_chp15.htm ]

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December 5, 2023 · 9:30 am

Eating Christ’s Flesh—Pre-requisite to the Abiding

Eating Christ’s flesh? Uh, that is some heavy stuff, Wayneman. Especially when you use the verb “eat.” That word triggers my mouth into getting involved with ingesting food. But eating Christ’s flesh? And drinking His blood? Really? How are we supposed to do that?

Well, Christ does say, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). It is this everlasting life that defines Christ’s abiding in us. He promised that He would abide and dwell in us if we ate His flesh and drank His blood.

Some people today will react to this statement the way many did 2,000 years ago. It was this very teaching that separated the sheep from the goats. “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (6:66). How serious was this situation? After witnessing many miracles and just being with Him, they could not handle the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood. They thought that He had gone too far with His mysterious sayings.

What was their problem? Christ said that it was their unbelief (6:64). But unbelief of what exactly? It was unbelief in anything that their eyes could not see. All they saw was the flesh of His body. They were looking after the flesh and not after the spirit. To understand this enigmatic passage, we must look on his “flesh” and “blood” after the spirit. Christ said as much: it is the spirit that quickens” (6:63). We must catch the “spirit of the thing” to understand it.

What spiritual action is taking place with His earthly body and blood? Ironically, we must look at Christ’s flesh body and blood after the spirit. The spirit makes His teachings come alive. Eating His flesh and drinking his blood are metaphors, not literal, material things to do. We must look to the spiritual applications of what His flesh and blood did on the cross.

The Flesh and the Blood—What Did They Do at the Cross?

Christ made an extremely important statement. “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Obviously, we cannot consume the flesh of His physical body cannibalistically. What then does his “flesh” signify? It is a metaphor for the final act that His physical body performed. That act was Christ laying down his physical body unto death. The eating of his flesh is us believing what the sacrifice of His body did for us all. It is believing that His death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection of that physical body, served to take our sins totally away. His flesh dying as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is the bread of life. It is what we are to take in/eat/and digest—spiritually.

Christ is called the Lamb of God for this very reason. All our sins were laid upon His body. Our sins were placed upon the Lamb. He was our scapegoat offering. When His flesh body died, our sins died with Him. When His blood was shed, the life of sin died that day on the cross.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22). “He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21). He was our pure Passover Lamb, crucified, and with his crucifixion, sin died that day. All we must do is just believe it. When His flesh body died, our old sinful selves died with Him. And “he that is dead is freed from sin.” The lifeblood of our sin is drained away with Christ’s blood.

When we were baptized in water, “we were baptized into His death.” When Christ’s sacrificial flesh and blood died, our old sinful self died with Him, “that the body of sin might be destroyed.” We are free! We are new creatures in Christ (Romans 6:1-12).

When we believe what the death of His flesh body and the shedding of His blood did for us, then we will have eaten and drunk His blood. These figures of speech mean that we have taken into our hearts the love that He expressed to us. We must not corrupt the “simplicity that is in Christ” (II Cor. 11:3). Beware of those who would beguile you to follow the path of transubstantiation. God is Spirit, not material and physical. He does not live in a lifeless wafer and a sip of wine.

[What are your thoughts on this subject? Please leave them in the comment section. Subscribe and give us a “like” if we have helped you. May Yah continue to enlighten your steps.] Kenneth Wayne Hancock  

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November 28, 2023 · 1:13 pm

Enduring the Dark Night of the Soul

(from Journal entry, 10-3-22)

At our weakest moment, God will allow Satan to present a panorama of memories and recollections of our sordid past sins, weaknesses, and spiritual failures. This is our passage through the valley of the dark night of the soul.

It issues from many sources. Betrayals and the pain that may linger from them may come. Or our thoughts may take a journey once again into the night’s memories of yesteryear’s shortcomings.

In this weakened state, spiritual trouble comes with our thoughts about how destitute of love we were. We begin to see our selfish naked egos, stained with pride, justifying our use of others, of those who our Savior died for. It is as if we are peering into the screen of a time machine, a mirror that reflects just how we really were. We peer into the fruitless past, and that same panic of being lost in the maze of life, grips us as we look back and long and lament our adolescent idiocy and our selfish egoism.

We must fearlessly look at the images and believe that they are mere relics of our past life. Remember how Christ was tempted? Satan offered up full control of his kingdom to Christ if He would play ball with him. Christ resisted all the temptations. Now Christ in us resists them as well.

Christ with great mercy has promised that He would “never leave us nor forsake us.” Especially when Satan thrusts in our face our sins and faults of yesteryear. He is the “accuser of the brethren.” But it is the great mercy of our King that reigns supreme. He has our backs. He allows us to think these fleeting thoughts to show us more clearly the magnificent deliverance from sin that He has wrought in our lives. For that is what it was—not is! We remember that we are His, bought with His blood. And He leads us through this moonless trek, this suffocating remembrance of what we once were.

Through this experience, however, we learn that we have been forgiven much. Therefore, we will love much, which fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself (Agape love) in us. Christ said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47 NKJV). These trials whereof we speak shows us that we have been forgiven much. A painful trudge down the “valley of the shadow of death” during our “dark night of the soul” shows us that. Those of us who see the reality of our shameful pasts and receive His forgiveness will love much. Those who do not see that they have been forgiven all that much—they will love only a little. “Her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Finally, Satan tries to use these memories to condemn us, but God uses them to show us a clearer picture of just how evil our old nature was. Through this trial, we see more clearly just how much we have been forgiven—how much selfish ungodliness we have been delivered from.

For in the end, only those who see and realize how much sin they have been forgiven will love much. Only those will bear much fruit, thus becoming more like Christ and His apostles. That is His goal and purpose: our maturity, which fulfills His purpose of multiplying Agape Love, which is Him.

The “dark night of the soul” experience is part of His plan to fulfill His purpose: to reproduce Agape love in us, thus reproducing Himself till Love be “all in all” (I Cor. 15:28). His plan is to keep on perfecting until all that is left is Love.     [Would you share your “dark night of the soul” in the comments section? The testimonies of the Father’s sons and daughters are so important. “Likes” are nice and appreciated, but a comment fashioned by the Spirit with words from the heart—that is what moves us. That is what edifies and helps us mature. That we may grow “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13). For it is the “power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). Your comments will be read all over the globe. Reach out and share your story?]      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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July 26, 2023 · 9:12 am

Forgiveness Is at the Heart of Repentance

(from Journal,  5-11-15)

Repentance is the first step on the path of righteousness. “Unless you repent you shall all likewise perish,” (Luke 13:5). Repentance is a grave concept, not to be misunderstood. A seeker of God must not get this wrong.

Nevertheless, the way to repentance is guided by the warm arms of forgiveness. For had not Christ forgiven us all, we would never be able to come to the altar of repentance from our sins.

Many believe that past sins are forgiven them by God, but they don’t believe that the sin nature within them—the old nature that produced the sin—is gone away for good. And therein lies the problem—the recurrence of sin in a person’s life. Why does sin keep cropping up? It is because of unbelief that our old sinful self has died with Christ on the cross. Through this unbelief, the old heart will still produce sin, the breaking of the Ten Commandments.

Sins Sent Away

The word “forgiveness” is translated from the Greek word aphiemi, a verb which means “to send away or depart.” Christ has sent our sins away.

We see this in the types and shadows of the old Mosaic law. One remembers how the Aaronic priest laid his hands on the scapegoat, transferring the people’s sins onto the goat. And then the goat was sent away into the wilderness, taking their sins with it. The scapegoat was a type of the Lamb of God “who takes away the sins of the world.” Christ had the heavy responsibility of being that Sacrifice. Christ took upon Himself all the sins of humanity. Shockingly for some, He died as a lost man that day; I say, in the similitude of a lost man. “For He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

He was our scapegoat offering. He has forgiven us in that He has sent our old selfish heart away. He is saying to us, Thy sins are forgiven. Your sins are sent away; they are departed and gone. They are no longer there. “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).   

Forgiving the Debt

The Greek word translated “repentance” has another nuance of meaning. It means to “to forgive a debt.” When we owe someone money, for example, we have a debt until either it is paid or until the debt is forgiven. When forgiven, the debt is gone, poof! It is no longer a reality; it no longer exists.  

It is the same with the old heart that sins. That person has a debt to love his fellow man, for God has said, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8 NIV). That is our debt: to love our neighbor as ourselves.

And yet, sin is the opposite of love, and it resides in unregenerated man. These are those that Christ has commanded us to love. We are to love the unlovable, those who have hurt us. We love them by forgiving them. This is how our debt is paid.

But our debt can never be paid by trying to do good works in our own strength. Yahweh takes away our sin through the sacrifice of His Son. We can repent through His grace to us.  This happens when we identify our sinful nature with Christ. Then the sin dies with Christ, and by belief/faith in His resurrection in us, we now walk in a “newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

Once this revelation sinks in, then we can say as Paul did that it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me (Gal 2:20). We need only read and believe Romans 6:1-15 and not question it.

When we do this, the sin will depart forever. The debt is paid. Our sins are forgiven. For good. All gone. Departed. Christ is big enough to make this happen. No more sin in our lives. It is a wondrous thing. This is His doctrine, and it is astonishing!

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 22, 2021 · 12:41 pm

Forgiving Small Sleights

Forgive. This second New Commandment predicts that there will be things in your new life to forgive. Someone in your life is irritating you. How do I know? It’s built into the human experience.

God in His goodness toward us, in that He wants us to grow spiritually, has provided in each life an irritant to help develop His nature in us. These irritants are people and situations in our lives that frustrate us.

We need someone to forgive. So it starts with the family. God puts initial love for them so much so that we “cannot live without them.” And then their weaknesses come to the forefront, forcing us to come to grips with the irritation their selfishness provides.

There is no way to get rid of it. The answer to this problem comes from a spiritual change in our own heart. This is how God foments a correction and growth in our makeup. Overcoming the irritants is how we grow from “one degree of glory to another.”

Ironically, we think that those who “bum us out” and “bring us down” are the culprits, but God uses them to fulfill His purpose of multiplying Himself in and through us. When we forgive those who irritate us, His nature of agape love grows in us, thus fulfilling His purpose.

Not As Easy As All That

As you know, that is more difficult than it looks. It is difficult to forgive completely and openheartedly. Most human failure is caused by not forgiving simple sleights. Human nature does not want to forgive.

God says that the key is to realize that it is not us that does the forgiving. It is the Spirit of God in us that forgives. Remember? As Christians we are dead on the cross with Christ and buried with Him and now “raised to walk in a newness of life.” It is now Christ’s Spirit within us that forgives, by faith in His resurrection. He has already forgiven everyone of everything.

Our great King has already done it all. When we believe this, we walk in His faith, His belief system. He has already forgiven that person. That is the record in heaven. When we let Him forgive another through us, then we are His witness here on earth of His love to mankind. The Father is localized in our vessel, and it is Him that is doing the wonderful works.

By obeying this New Commandment, “Forgive,” His love grows in and through us.

{Please hit that “like” button to boost readership of this blog. Thank you. This article is chapter 19 of the brand new book that is now off to the printers. It is called The Eleventh Commandment. To receive a free copy with free shipping just send your name and mailing address, and name of book to my email address: wayneman5@hotmail.com It should be available in May sometime. God bless you and yours.}

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January 5, 2012 · 3:07 am

“Forgive Us Our Debts”–Loving the Unloveable

We had a saying during the mission years–those years in the ’70’s when a small group of us had come out of the world system and had lived and worked together–all of us longing  to become more like Christ. 

It went like this: “Love Tom and save the world.”  Tom was our teacher and mentor.  He was also the one who did the correcting and the admonishing.  And we all at one time or another bristled at his rebukes, our egos being bruised.

Of course, the saying can contain anyone’s name–anyone, that is, that you are having a problem with.  “Love ______________and save the world.  You fill in the blank with the person that is the most difficult  for you to love today.  For if you can do that, then you will have arrived where God wants you in your Christian growth.  You will have in your vessel the Spirit of God Himself, who is Love.  And with the power that comes from His presence of Love inside of you, you can then save the world.  And, boy, does it need saving right now.

I am getting a fuller understanding of that old saying today, almost 40 years later.  If we can humble ourselves enough to ask God to grant to us His loving and forgiving nature to love that person who we are having trouble loving, then we will have manifested God in the flesh of our bodies.

In the normal everyday walk of our lives, certain people enter whose actions we despise.  They grate on us and both irritate and disgust us.  My earthly sister was such a person.  She was a drug addict–addicted to hydrocodone for 40 years.  She played my poor old mother, who was her enabler.  She stole from her–even my mom’s pain pills that her broken down 80 year old back needed.  Many times my sister left her without medication for two weeks.  This went on for decades.  My darling mother suffered greatly because of her. 

I tried to get my mom to forsake her, the tough love Bible way–to not let her use her, but Mom could not do it.  We buried Mom in June of last year.  And to this day, my sister has never apologized for all of the lies and thefts and shame she brought upon our family.

Now my sister lays up in an intensive care bed with tubes running out of her face.  And I visited her, and told her I loved her and prayed for her that God would comfort her.  And although she could not open her eyes, tears washed over her eyelids and began to fill the sockets.  I know that she is feeling bad about things she has done.  

My sister before this latest bout has really been trying, but because so much dirty water has passed under the bridge, it is difficult to love her.  I do love her with a earthly family love.  But I mean it is difficult to love her with a deep, resounding,  joyful love. 

And so the memory of that old saying from the mission clangs on my heart tonight.  ” Love her and save the world.”  I should be like that man who woke up from a dream and had the revelation that he should begin today to forgive everybody! 

We are told by our Master to pray, asking the Father, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  What debts is He talking about?  A debt means that we owe something, but what do we owe?  “Owe no man anything but to love one another.”  To love each other–that is our debt!

So we ask God to forgive us when we don’t love each other, and He does this as we forgive those who don’t love us as they should.  This is us forgiving their debt of love to us. 

So we need to realize that, yes, other human beings owe us love, but most are in their selfish, carnal nature that prevents them.  So we should just pray, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”  They do not realize that they should love everyone.

Our debt, then, is to love one another.  We need to have an attitude of forgiveness to all who don’t love us.  And here is the kicker: This is what God does.  And if each Seed bears its own kind, we as His seed, His children, should do the same as He does, which is loving the unloveable.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 20, 2009 · 12:52 am

Forgiveness–How to Love Your Wife As Christ Loved the Church

As men, we are admonished to “love our wives as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it.”  We are to love our wives in the same manner that Christ loves all of His followers.  How does He love us all?  He forgives.  No matter the faults that we have done–He  has a forgiving heart toward us.

We are also admonished “to be not bitter” against our wives.  Men become bitter toward their wives when they do not forgive them.

But some man will ask, Forgive them of what?  Forgive them for just being human.  Forgive them for not being perfect perfect.  But we men have a problem doing this.  We hold on to small grudges and little snide attitudes.  We puff up and become indignant towards them.  We expect them to make the first move toward reconciliation.

But the biblical love is a forgiving love and is unconditional.  We should not love our wives because they love us first.  That is not loving our wives the way Christ loved all of us.  He loved us when we were unlovable.

This kind of love is, of course, not the “love” born from our original carnal nature.  This love is the “love from above”–the agape love, and women are wired by their Creator to respond to it.  In fact, this is the only kind of love that will reach them.

The Divine Relationship in Husband and Wife

There is a divine ratio and proportion going on here.                                               Husbands :  Wives ::  Christ : the body of Christ (His church, us)          Husbands are to love their wives the way Christ loves us.

And so we must look to why we, the body of Christ (the church), love God.  “We love God because He first loved us.”  We didn’t wake up one morning and decide that we were going to love God.  No.  He loved us first and gave Himself for us.  Christ laid down His mortal life, thereby expressing the greatest love a man can show another.  It was only then that we could be changed from a selfish, non-loving individual into one who loves another.

In like manner, God demands that we love our wives unconditionally.  We love them first by forgiving them of any perceived shortcomings or wrongs towards us.  We forgive their imperfections, both outward and inward.

We are asked by God to love them as He loves us by using great patience in waiting and hoping for the harvest of reciprocal love, joy and peace.

Yes, this is difficult to do on our own strength.  It takes faith in God’s power, for we do not have it within ourselves to love our wives the way Christ loves us all.  Again, that love is from above and not from the earthly nature we are born with.

We can only get it from God.  This kind of forgiveness and love cannot be obtained through the usual means available to man.  It must be asked for from Him who is LOVE.  For “God is love.”  He, therefore, is the only One who has what He is asking us to dispense to another.

Man’s Problem in Forgiving and Loving

It takes humility to approach the altar of Divine Love and ask God to channel His Essence through us to our wives.  To say to Him, Please help me love her with the forgiveness that yields sweet acceptance–the way You have accepted us into Your Presence.  I cannot do this on my own; my heart is too small.  I know this now.  Help me.  Flow Love through me to her.  Thank You.      KWH

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October 1, 2008 · 4:25 pm

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

     Why does God let the righteous and innocent suffer?  I have learned that bad things happen to the innocent because God allows it–for a very specific purpose.  It is a tough concept for us to swallow because we would not, of course, do it that way.  “Our thoughts are not His thoughts; our ways are not His ways.”  But “one event happens to them all” (Eccle. 2:14).  And that event is the suffering, usually at the hands of others.

     God allows bad things to happen to us so that we will have something or someone to forgive.  We are to be like Him; therefore, we need something to forgive. 

     We have to enter into the mind of God as seen in the scriptures in order to see His purpose, which is to make us His sons and daughters.  First, we are born of God.  He is our Father.  And then the law of harvest says, “Each seed bears its own kind.”  

     So if we indeed are His children, then we will have to do what He did, which is to forgive. If no one ever wronged us, we would never have an opportunity to forgive someone for the betrayals, lies, cheats, thefts, broken promises, et al, that we suffer at their hands.  Even when “acts of God” happen to us, we must forgive this “perceived wrong” that “God has done to us.”  If we don’t forgive, we harden into a bitter knot of gall that rises up in the center of our being and ruins us and those around us.

     I searched for this answer for 30 years before God was gracious enough to show me.  For, you see, I was accused wrongfully by someone that I loved, and it hurt with a pain that surpassed mere heartbreak.  This about forgiveness was not learned from a book, for one cannot take this in intellectually.  It was a revelation to me one day while I was, as Emerson and Thoreau said, in a receptively transcendental mood. 

     This knowledge healed me of the pain.  “The truth shall make  you free.”  Free from the wondering why, free from the tricks our hearts and minds play on us, free from the imaginations, doubts, and recriminations. 

     And so I pass this on to you.  Hope this helps.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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July 26, 2008 · 7:25 pm

“Overcome Evil With Good”–Forgiving One Another

     Been betrayed lately?  Lied to?  Cheated on?  Robbed?  Beaten up?  Victimized?  Abused mentally or physically?  

     Have you ever wondered, Why do good-hearted people suffer at the hands of evil ones?  It is the age old question explored in the Book of Job in the Bible.  Why do the righteous suffer?

     The short answer: God allows it.  For a very good reason.  He wants us to be like Him, but to be like Him, we must have something to forgive.  If this does not make much sense, we need to remember that “HIs ways are not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts.”  We must look through His eyes to comprehend the answer to this one. 

     His eternal purpose is what He is about from the very beginning before time as we know it.  And it is this: He is in the process of reproducing Himself.  He is the Seed, the Word, and He is multiplying Himself in us. 

He Is the Forgiver

     We receive His Spirit within our hearts and begin to grow.  One of His major traits that He is keen on passing on to us is that He is the Forgiver.  “To forgive a wrong” is an attribute of God, for only He can do it; only He has a heart big enough for it. 

     We, in order to be His sons and daughters, should now forgive.  The English poet Alexander Pope wrote, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” 

     But it is not in the old nature of man to forgive.  We hold on to things that people do to us.  We hold grudges and forge weapons of revenge, or harbor little agonies about wrongs committed aganist us.  

     And since forgiveness is not a natural human trait, we then are forced to go to God and ask Him for His Spirit-of-forgiveness to be channeled through us to the one who wronged us.

     This has a powerful impact on both the forgiver (us) and the forgiven (them).   We will have contacted God and witnessed His Spirit of forgiveness flowing through us, and the forgiven knows now that something greater than a victim stands there–in peace.

     This is how we are delivered from the evil done to us by others–when we forgive their sins toward us.  We have that power with God.  In fact, He wants us to forgive others, for it shows the world that we are His offspring.

     We are to “be partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4).  By forgiving, we show His godly nature in us.  This gives God glory.

     Forgiving will not put an end to “people hurting people.”  The old nature will sin against others. But we can transcend this lower, earthy, devilish cycle of hurt-for-hurt and an eye-for-an-eye.  With God’s help, this we can do to end the cycle of sin.  We forgive and thereby join the ranks of God’s princes and princesses who have now partaken of His divine nature–the nature of forgiving.

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